New York Times Redefines the Word Journalist
After
years of working for the newspaper of record in the US, you’d think
veteran newsman David Carr would know the difference between a
journalist and a propagandist.
Apparently not, judging by his impassioned defense of journalists “targeted” in last week’s conflict between Israel and Gaza.
Carr attended an event sponsored by the Committee to Protect Journalists last week, which put out a report claiming that a third of the journalists who were killed on the job last year were killed by government actions.
Carr then added a few more names to the list – Palestinians killed during the week of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
On the same day as the Waldorf
event, three employees of news organizations were killed in Gaza by
Israeli missiles. Rather than suggesting it was a mistake, or denying
responsibility, an Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital
Leibovich, told The Associated Press, “The targets are people who have
relevance to terror activity.”
So it has come to this:
killing members of the news media can be justified by a phrase as
amorphous as “relevance to terror activity.”
And who were these “members of the news media” Carr alludes
to? “Mahmoud al-Kumi and Hussam Salama worked as cameramen for Al-Aqsa
TV, which is run by Hamas and whose reporting frequently reflects that
affiliation,” Carr writes.
To refer to Al-Aqsa TV as a “news organization” that
“frequently” reflects the position of Hamas is to dangerously blur the
distinction between legitimate news and intentional disinformation.
Al-Aqsa TV is not a source of legitimate news. It belongs
to Hamas and serves as its mouthpiece. Those who make up the “news team”
are Hamas shills working to advance its terrorist agenda – which
included more than a thousand attacks on Israeli civilians over little
more than a week.
Of course, Carr wasn’t the only one to raise his voice
against Israel’s actions. Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without
Borders objected as well.
Those organizations, of course, have a long history of
knee-jerk condemnations of Israel. But one would have hoped Carr would
know better. After so many years in the news business, you’d think he’d
recognize the difference between a journalist and a phony trying to
exploit what little credibility the field has left to advance a
terrorist aim.
Labels: Communication, Gaza, Hamas, Human Fallibility, Israel, Misadventure, News Media, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 27, 2012
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